Casino Party Night
by Phantom Blade Master
Summary: Sonic and friends just wanted to have a fun night in the brand new Casinopolis. But they instead end up in a bunch of deathtraps. Looks like something else besides gambling is going on.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic or any of it's characters. I am simply borrowing the property for an independent story.

The moon had just come up as Sonic walked up to the brand new Casinopolis. It looked like loads of fun. Just from outside he heard slots rolling and the sounds of rings being collected as well as the glittering of what could have been valuable jewels. Sonic tried to walk in but apparently the door wouldn't open. He kicked it and spindashed it but it wouldn't budge. Sonic was about to give up and go home but then he noticed a giant spring on top of the roof just like the ones he was used to jumping on and soaring into the air with. If anything it would be fun just to hit it. He jumped high into the air and tackled it with a homing attack. After hearing the usual sound of a ring being collected the doors opened and Sonic entered the fancy looking Casinopolis.

Sonic was quite impressed when he walked into the area. It was quite spacious and full of life. Carpets covered the floor and Sonic couldn't wait to join in on all the game playing everyone was doing. After all he was definitely excited after receiving the anonymous letter encouraging him to "Come to the brand new Casinopolis to have fun and win loads of rings and the seven shiny Chaos Emeralds!" The letter seemed strange but Sonic wasn't about to miss out on any kind of fun. He walked up to a purple warp machine to find his pal Tails who had clearly won big and had a ton of rings with him.

"Hey Sonic, I'm glad you're here. I was looking for a partner to play this with." Said the two-tailed fox.

"Oh really?" replied Sonic, "What exactly is this?"

"It's a pinball machine. You've done before, you're thrown into a table to score yourself some rings. I hear if you complete a certain goal you even get an emerald."

"Sounds good to me let's go."

With that Sonic jumped into the warp machine. When he came out of the warp room he landed on an enormous table that was structured like a pinball machine. The machine had massive flippers which automatically shot Sonic across the table and into the many objects that gave Sonic some rings when he hit them. Sonic pretty much had to guess where he was going as he went through loop de loops and around holes. Sonic swore that the table was actually very dangerous and could be deadly if he wasn't careful. It was riddled with holes and if he fell through any of them he might drop to his doom. After hitting the many belts and being shot everywhere Sonic got quite a headache and was worn out from having to dodge the holes.

Suddenly a strange woman dressed in a purple jester costume flew down and grabbed Sonic. After going through a strange flight in a night sky Sonic was dropped into another giant pinball table with eight cards. On each card there was a picture of someone Sonic knew. From left to right there was Sonic, Tails, knuckles, Rouge, Shadow, Omega, Metal Sonic and Dr. Eggman at the end. By instinct he gave effort to run into Eggman's card. After hitting it it spinned a little and then a yellow emerald fell from above. With a final thrust from the giant flipper Sonic flew toward the emerald and grabbed it. He was instantly transported back into the main casino area and Tails was again there waiting for him.

"Impressive Sonic. My score was pretty good but I didn't get anywhere near a chaos emerald." Said Tails.

"Yeah." Replied Sonic. "I was able to walk out with this but it wasn't easy. And I'm definitely gonna need some aspirin later. But is it just me or was that thing a deathtrap? There seemed to be a couple of things not very safe about it. Especially those holes."

"Yeah, I guess that's why people weren't really in a rush to play it…"

Sonic gave him a flustered look. "I'm starting to not feel too comfortable with this thing. I mean I got this letter of invitation and it sounded fun but who's in charge of this thing?"

"I don't know Sonic… I actually got this letter too and I've ended up in same position as you…"

"We gotta figure out what's going on here Tails."

Just then a red echidna with long stylish dreadlocks and on his knuckles came over. It was none other than Knuckles the Echidna.

"Hey guys, crazy seeing you here." He said.

Sonic and Tails stared at him still half serious. Startled he said, "Whoa, what's wrong? Have you guys lost that mush cash?"

The two explained their worries to him. He thought for a moment and said, "I see. I got one of those letters too. But I haven't had to deal with any deathtraps. Just some slot machine that doesn't give me anything."

"Slot machine?" asked Sonic.

"Yeah, this giant slot machine. I jump into some cage and it spins. Depending on how the pictures line up I get a reward. But the most the stupid thing is giving me is a couple dozen rings. Stupid thing…"

"How bout I have a look at this stupid thing Knuckles?" asked Sonic.

Knuckles nodded sure and then led them to a giant slot machine. Sonic stared at it for a moment.

"This is it?" asked Sonic.

Knuckles confirmed it was and Sonic jumped in the giant slot. He fitted perfectly and a cage closed over him. In his ball form he spun around and around as the slots in the machine spun around and around. Finally the machine stopped on three rings and at least one hundred rings dropped from the ceiling. Sonic was released from the cage and looked around pleased. Knuckles stared in disbelief and yelled out, "THIS IS RIDICULOUS! Sonic gets lucky all the time and I'm left out in the cold."

"Say I wonder if this machine would have another emerald." Said Sonic.

"Worth a shot." Said Tails.

Sonic jumped in the cage again but this time a ring, a jackpot sign and a picture of Eggman's face showed up and no prize was awarded. Sonic jumped in yet again and this time three Eggman faces appeared. Suddenly huge showers of black spiked balls were shot from all directions. Startled the three heroes were jumping everywhere to avoid being hit by this dangerous trap.

Finally it seemed to stop and Sonic yelled out, "Eggman! He must have something to do with this. Who else would invite us to a bunch of deathtraps? Why as soon as I see him I'm gonna-" Just then one more spiked ball shot directly at Sonic. With a quick jump he barely escaped the spiked ball but landed back in the slot machine. It rolled some more and this time ended on three red chaos emeralds and thus a red Chaos Emerald dropped from the ceiling.

Sonic grabbed it in triumph and explained to everyone, "Alright guys. Clearly Eggman is up to something here. I'm gonna beat these traps and get the Chaos Emeralds cause that's probably the best way to find him. And if he's up to something then I'm gonna have to stop him."

The three agreed to see this through and exited the room through the warp room.


	2. Chapter 2

Sonic walked around the spacious Casino and eventually saw the treasure hunting bat Rouge. He walked

up to her to see what she may or may not have to tell him about any emeralds.

"Well Sonic, looking for more trouble are we?" asked Rouge.

"You betcha." Replied Sonic, "I'm lookin for emeralds along with a huge serving of trouble. Anything you can tell me?"

"Well in this transporter behind me there's this huge casino looking area. Some people are saying that there's an emerald hidden in there along with some fake ones but heck I don't know. I looked a little earlier but found nothing. Wanna help me find it? Better yet lets race to find it. C'mon, it'll be fun, let's go!" Rouge grabbed Sonic's arm and forced him into the transporter. They transported to the Casino area as a big TV dropped down giving three random messages:

Lucky Spinning Checkers.

Destroy the enemy.

Money down the drain.

"Well look at this." Said Rouge, "The three clues that stumped me before. Well c'mon you don't want to lose to me do you? If I get that emerald first I'm keeping it."

Wouldn't want that. I need that emerald thought Sonic as he looked around. The dome like area was far too big for him to explore every inch of it. He had to figure out those clues that were given and locate the true emerald. He walked for a bit and then came upon a giant roulette table. Around and around the numbered black and red spun and then Sonic realized it. He jumped into the roulette wheel being very careful to get it right. He spun and spun and then he happened to land right into the slot numbered seven. YES! Lucky number seven. Sonic figured out the riddle and the roulette table was lifted into the air revealing a yellow emerald. Sonic grabbed it but he knew he already had one and doubted that the one he won at the pinball table was fake. He walked from under the roulette table and ran into Rouge again.

"Oh, hey Rouge." Said Sonic, these clues are pretty tricky huh?"

Rouge laughed, "All you have to do is use your head." She pointed, "See that statue of you over there? Eggman probably built this entire Casino and he considers YOU his enemy. So that little clue about destroying the enemy? Well, just watch."

She flew over to the statue of Sonic with her bat wings and kicked directly into it shattering it into pieces. It didn't take her long to find a glittering red emerald among the rubble. She flew back to Sonic, "See? These clues aren't anything to pull your blue hair out over Sonic."

Sonic was a bit uncomfortable seeing the enjoyment Rouge got out of destroying a replica of his body but he still took a look at the emerald. He explained how it was probably a fake considering how he had already won a red emerald.

"Oh rats." Said Rouge. "Can't treasure hunting ever be easy?"

While she complained Sonic took note of a fountain with some rings in it. That's it he thought. With a powerful Sonic Bounce he went through the fountain and into a sewer under the casino. Among all the rather filthy water he saw a glittering white emerald. He grabbed it and jumped out back into the main area. When he walked near Rouge to show her his shiny prize the other two fake emeralds disappeared proving that the white emerald was the real deal.

Jealous, Rouge said, "Hmph. Good job. I guess even an expert treasure hunter such as myself can't get it every time."

The two unlikely allies walked back to the transporter and warped back into the main Casinopolis. Rouge, with her pride still hurt dismissed Sonic and walked off in search of some other kind of entertainment. Sonic met back up with Tails and Knuckles and showed them his new emerald. They both praised him for his achievement but Knuckles especially patted him on the back for beating the annoying treasure hunter at her own game. Sonic backed him off.

"Now where do we find the next emerald?"

Just then what seemed like a black version of Sonic was seen off in the distance. It was none other than Shadow the Hedgehog a strange acquaintance of Sonic. He seemed a bit annoyed with something. With no better option in sight the gang consulted Shadow about whatever was eating him.

"What do you three possibly want?"

"Nice to see you too Shadow." Replied Sonic.

"We're just wondering why you look like you hate everything right now."

"Well…" Shadow definitely looked hesitant on revealing what had him so bothered.

"I'm just not very lucky tonight…"

"oh… well that's alright, I don't think I've ran into anybody that's lucky so far tonight. Strangely I'm the only one who's ever lucky… but anyway what is it that you're so unlucky with?"

"Chao betting. This transporter takes you to place where Chao sports are betted on. If you bet right you could win big. I also heard that if you get a strong winning streak then you can win something especially valuable."

"Hmm, wonder what that could be." Said Sonic to the guys.

"Well Shadow, I hope you're not out it yet. I think we'd do pretty good if we all went in there and betted on things as a team so we could get as much out of it as we can."

"Yeah I guess… that could work." And with that the four heroes stepped into the transporter and got ready for some betting. They transported into a huge garden like area with several arenas split into Chao races and Chao fights respectively.

"Well it's pretty simple." Said Shadow. "Go up to those computers place your bets and hope the Chao chose wins."

And thus the betting began. Chaos of all kinds fought and raced each other for their owners and people betted on who won for money. The four heroes each did differently in their betting. Tails with his sharp intellect made very wise choices in his betting. However luck was sometimes a part of the equation and the truth was that Tails wasn't very lucky. And so his betting victories were very mixed. Knuckles also wasn't very lucky and plus he had a bad habit of looking only at raw power. He always chose the chao that looked strongest or fastest and the truth was that was not the deciding factor. Knuckles did fine but not as good as he would have liked. Shadow truly did the worst. No matter what Shadow did he always lost his bet and in races his Chao choice came in dead last. Sonic just couldn't figure out what the problem with Shadow was. But Sonic on the other hand did very well at betting. Sonic actually thought back to some of his own Chao raising experiences and so he knew how to spot a winning Chao. On top of that he was a generally lucky guy and lady luck sure smiled on him sometimes. His winning streak was incredible. He must've won at least 17 Chao fights and 24 Chao races in no time at all. Suddenly a shiny light blue object fell from the ceiling and sonic caught it. Sonic now had 4 good emeralds. He felt triumphant so far but he slightly wondered why there was such an easy test for this emerald. As if in answer to this thought Eggman robots dropped from the ceiling and began attacking Sonic. Sonic fought back with untraceable speed and the other three fighters had his back as well. The robots were easy enemies but they were filling the area fast. Something had to be done or the robots could overpower them. Shadow thinking quick took the emerald from Sonic and used a bright Chaos Control to transport their foes out of the area. Sonic snatched the emerald back.

"Thanks Shadow, but how about next time we try and defeat the enemies instead of throwing Chaos Controls around."

"What the heck is even going on? Forget this I'm outta here! And I'm never betting again in my life!" Shadow ran out of the area and was gone. The team was sorry to caused him trouble but still had to push on.


End file.
